[Fiction] [Nonfiction] [Quick Reads] [Author Info] [FAQ] [Order Form]

Sylmar, California
Two Blocks from Armando and Sylvia Pena's house

Leo and Rose Bartlett were very happily married now for fifteen years. Eleven years earlier they had built their neat ranch-style home, and Leo and Rose worked hard to keep it up. Rose enjoyed gardening and Leo was somewhat of a handy man around the house so they were happy working at it together. Leo worked as an air traffic controller at the Burbank Airport and made a good living. Rose was the artist in the family. She had a successful small arts and craft store where she taught classes in flower arranging, oil painting and macramé. Leo and Rose never had children, so like many childless couples they had dogs. They transferred all their affection to their two mutts. Buster was the older of the two, at seven years, a mix of German Shepard and Lab. Toots was a younger female, half Cocker Spaniel and half mutt. Buster was the smart one and Toots was the goofball, so they were fun to watch. Toots adored Buster and tried hard to emulate him. She usually hung all over him. He seemed to amusedly tolerate her. Both dogs were neutered so no problems of unwanted litters of pups, and neither had ever known any type of physical punishment. Leo and Rose instructed both dogs with firmness and love and the dogs responded in kind.

Like most dog owners, Leo and Rose knew the various barks their dogs made. The happy ones when Leo and Rose got back from an errand, the warning barks when the mail man delivered the mail, barking at the neighborhood kids that ran up and down the street.

Leo and Rose had just finished dinner. Leo was planning on reading the paper and Rose was looking at the TV Guide to see what was on the tube.

"Leo, hon, I think Buster wants to go outside." 

Leo looked over at the back door and sure enough Buster was standing there waiting. 

"Rose, do you ever wonder why that dog can bark at everything from his dinner to the mail man but when he needs to do his business he just stands there?" 

Rose smiled and continued reading the evening's TV listings. Toots charged at the door realizing too late that she couldn't stop in time on the linoleum and slid into the door, bouncing off.

"Well, kid, when are you gonna learn?" Leo said while snickering. Toots was immediately embarrassed and Buster just stood there doing his best doggie grin. Leo opened the backdoor and then the screen door and both dogs charged out in the yard. He closed the screen door, leaving the backdoor open and returned to his seat. He picked up the paper again searching for the article he had been reading when he heard Buster's warning bark. Kind of a very deep "woof". Then Toots started her more shrill barking, a yap, yap, yap. 

Rose looked over at Leo.

"Hey, sounds like more critters in the garden?"

eo sighed and stood up. He walked into the kitchen and grabbed his flashlight when all hell exploded in the yard. Suddenly, he heard snarling, yapping and then a sound he never heard before, Buster shrieking in terror! Now Buster was a good-sized dog, eighty-five pounds if he weighed an ounce. Leo jumped out on the back porch switching on the flashlight and stopped in horror. A young looking Hispanic man was holding Buster up with one hand, squeezing the dog's throat. Buster's legs kicked weakly. Toots, yapping almost incoherently, lunged at the man, clamping her teeth around his calf, trying to save her pack mate. He casually looked down and then kicked her mightily in the ribs, knocking her all the way across the yard. 

Leo heard ribs break. Leo watched this in shock but when his little Toots was kicked aside like so much garbage a dull, red rage encompassed him. Dropping the flashlight Leo grabbed a shovel and charged screaming,

"You son-of-a-bitch!" Had Leo been playing baseball, the swing with his shovel would have knocked the ball down to Orange County. He hit this guy full in the face with one hell of a whack! The man dropped Buster, knocked to his buttocks. He ended up in a sitting position. Leo was going to swing again and finish this bastard off when through his rage he heard his wife screaming. He looked around at Rose, then back to the man at his feet, and through unbelieving eyes saw him start to rise. He gave another swing, again hitting him on the side of his head, knocking him down. He turned to Rose.

"Call 911 and get the sheriff out here!" 

Rose continued to stare in horror.

"Rose! Call 911, damn it!" 

She turned around and ran back inside the house, the screen door slamming. Leo looked down again and couldn't believe it. This guy was standing up again. He looked at his face closely for the first time, and expected to see it covered in blood. Nothing, although he did seem to have blood smeared from his lips to his chin. Leo backed up, then ran into the house locking the screen door and then the back door.

Rose was fumbling with the phone, Leo took it from her. "Rose, listen to me!" She stared at him, the shock obvious on her face. "Damn it, girl. Snap to! Get the car keys, here!" He snatched them off the hook in the kitchen. "Go into the bedroom, call 911 from there and tell them a man is trying to break into the house. Then CRAWL OUT THE BEDROOM WINDOW! Do you understand?" She nodded; then ran into the bedroom. Leo went to his desk and opened the bottom drawer. He pulled out his only firearm, a Smith and Wesson Model 59, 9-millimeter automatic pistol. He had bought the gun back even before he married Rose, and was a proficient shot with it. He liked the Model 59 because the magazine held fourteen rounds in it, and if one was up the barrel, he had fifteen shots. Leo only kept eight rounds in the magazine, he didn't want to leave it lying around fully loaded in case the spring failed. He grabbed a box of 9-millimeter hollow point cartridges, and topped it off. He pulled the slide to the rear, released it and put on the safety. He then pulled the magazine back out and put the last round into the clip and slammed the magazine back in the butt of the Smith.

Leo heard Rose speaking on the phone, starting to cry. And then he heard a kick at his back door. Rose screamed, and holding the pistol, he ran into the bedroom. She dropped the phone and was on her haunches, holding her head, going into hysterics. He picked up the phone. 

"Hello?" He heard an officious female on the phone.

"Sir, who am I speaking to?"

"This is Leo Bartlett. A Mexican looking man just attacked my two dogs in our backyard and is now trying to get into our home. Please send the police right away!" Another kick slammed into the door and Leo heard glass break. "Quickly, get somebody here quickly!"

"Sir, we have dispatched deputies to your address and they should be there in about six or seven minutes!" 

Now Leo was freaking. 

"Look, God Damn it, we don't have seven minutes..." Another kick and he heard wood break.

"Sir, sir..."

"Listen lady, I gotta go..." Leo dropped the phone. "Rose! Rose!" He grabbed her and slapped her face. "Get out the window. NOW!" He checked her hands to make sure she had the car keys. Another kick, more broken glass. He picked the car key out for her, while pushing her to the window. Leo kicked the screen out and pushed her outside.

"Get in the car, start the engine and LOCK THE DOORS. Rose, come on!" She ran to the car and Leo turned around to meet this bastard that suddenly and with no warning just turned his and his wife's life upside down!

Leo took the pistol safety off and looked around the doorway. Nothing. He then crept toward the kitchen doorway, holding the now-cocked pistol in front of him, both hands holding it. More glass broke, and now he could hear crunching as someone walked on the broken glass. Leo jumped in the doorway and saw a face that would haunt him until the day he died. A young looking Hispanic stood there dressed in filthy and blood-stained clothing. But it was his face that scared Leo to his very soul. Black rimmed eyes, the color of pitch. His face was chalk white, with dried blood covering the bottom of his face. But it was when he looked at Leo that he realized that this guy was NOT HUMAN, not even close. Leo aimed dead center at his chest and fired. One, two, three, four, five shots. The impact of the hollow point bullet's drove him backwards but he didn't fall. The man was about ten feet from Leo now, and he stared at him in amazement. The man kept the crazy look, but now he growled. Leo aimed at his legs and started firing again. Six, seven, eight, nine, and then ten shots in and around his knees. Now he did drop. Leo aimed next for his head and opened up again. Eleven, twelve, thirteen shots into his skull. Leo now was sickened because the bullet's blew out the back of his head with pieces of skull now stuck to the wall, but he wouldn't lie down and die. That's it, I am out of here, he thought. He stopped by his desk and grabbed his ammunition on the way out. He got to the car door and Rose unlocked it.

"Wha… wha... what happened?" she stuttered out.

"Slide over, Rose." She slid to the passenger seat and he entered the car, slamming the door. He locked it and then began reloading his pistol. "Where in hell are the cops?" he blurted out. 

Rose looked around nervously.

"Leo, did you shoot him?"

"Yes, Rose."

She blanched and said,

 "Oh, my God!" 

He looked at her suddenly stunned.

"Rose, I shot him maybe ten times or more. He didn't even seem hurt." She looked at him thinking he was in shock. How could you shoot somebody ten times and he not be hurt? Suddenly, the front door kicked open and the "man" shambled out onto the porch. Leo jammed the gear lever into reverse and shot out onto the street.

LA Sheriff's cars careened around both corners, sirens blaring. Both cars screeched to a halt in front of Leo and Rose's house. Four deputies jumped out of the cars. 

Leo exited his vehicle holding both hands where the cops could see them. "Thank God you're here! There he is." 

Two deputies jumped forward holding shotguns. The senior officer yanked Leo backwards.

"Sir, is that your wife?" Leo nodded. "Get in the car with her and lock the doors. Now!" Leo jumped to obey. 

One deputy with a shotgun hollered to the shambling thing on the porch.

"Freeze! You on the porch, put your hands up and drop to your knees!" Now all the officers were aiming weapons at what once had been Jesus Salvatore, fearless leader of the Feroces Toros. He continued lurching forward. He had no conscious thoughts except to feed. He was a revenant.

Both shotguns boomed in unison. The other two officers watched him bounce down the steps and then sit up. Now they fired an even dozen shots. All the rounds hit Jesus in the area of the sternum. He was knocked down again, flat on his back. The deputies approached him, expecting a corpse. What they didn't know was, Jesus was already by all definitions a corpse. He sat up and growled at them. Rose passed out; the horror was too much for her. Now all the cops emptied shotguns and automatic pistols into Jesus. They shattered Leo and Rose's porch. The gunfire was deafening. Two more units rolled up with deputies jumping out. Leo held Rose in his arms, now terrified all over again for her.

The first four cops fell back reloading. The three arrivals ran forward with two more shotguns and another automatic pistol. They opened up again and once more it sounded like a war zone. Now, with the continuous shotgun and pistol fire, chunks of Jesus were flying off him. He didn't seem to notice but the cops did. They suddenly all stopped shooting and looked at each other.

"Sarge..." one of the younger deputies asked before vomiting. "What the hell is that?" He didn't know but he ran to the car to radio for a Supervisor. Looking down at the "thing" on the sidewalk was now tough. He had an arm, a hand from the other arm, and a leg totally shot away. And he was still growling.

Buy this eBook!

Copyright © 2004-2008 Gate Way Publishers. All Rights Reserved.
Website designed and hosted by SRS Internet Publishing.